Tj Smith's restaurant & bar — Restaurant in Warrington Township

Well, where to begin. We had reservations at 6 and it is now 6:30 and we are back home and I am leaving this review. I drove from VA this morning to visit my daughter who goes to school in PA. I wanted to take her and her boyfriend out for a nice dinner since they couldn’t be home in VA for Thanksgiving and their apt does not have the capabilities to cook a Thanksgiving dinner as it’s a basement apt. I had originally made reservations at another restaurant, but on my way in to town I saw people going into TJ Smiths. I pulled up their menu when I got to my daughter’s apt and the options looked good, so I called them and made a reservation. When we arrived, there was a buffet set up and that was the only option. It was my fault for not being aware that they would not be serving their menu. It was also my fault for not asking how much each person would be along with checking out the buffet first. I remained hopeful, but the food was terrible. Everything was cold. My daughter who loves Mac&cheese, was so excited when they brought out a fresh pan, but she was quickly disappointed. How do you mess up mac&cheese?!? It was cold and had no flavor. There was such a thick layer of fat on the turkey and none of that crispy skin. I took one bite and it and I couldn’t take another one as it had a slimy texture to it. The mashed potatoes were cold, the stuffing was mushy. They served fried fish and tilapia and both were cold. The fried fish was so dry, at first I thought it was chicken. The turkey gravy was very dark. The green beans were hard. The one thing that was decent was the canned corn and the tortellini, but while eating the tortellini I bit into something hard and could not continue to eat it. They referred to the rolls as “fresh,” but they were hard and once again cold. The family and I felt bad for not liking it, but it was simply not good. When the check came it was $44.99/person. Of course I paid it, but we barely ate anything so we basically gave them $140. I did speak with the manager Bill, who said he disagrees with me, didn’t say sorry, and did not come back out after taking my payment. Sadly, we would have had better food at Wawa. I also feel terrible leaving this review because I do believe everyone, especially the “chef” worked hard, but it was not good at all. Luckily, I didn’t eat hardly anything, but my daughters boyfriend did due to being very hungry and waiting all day to eat and now he is already in the restroom. I would not recommend this place, but I’m from VA and maybe people in PA prefer different food. This will be a Thanksgiving dinner that we won’t forget and we certainly learned from this mistake.

**Edit: WARNING! STAY AWAY FROM HERE!! The responses from this owner are brazen for an independently owned restaurant. I humbled myself and took responsibility for my mistakes. I have no issues paying for good food. For reference, I spent $200 at my local independently owned BBQ place for 2 people without blinking an eye. I then turned around and had an event at work and spent $300 on 5 pies and their cornbread. I have an issue paying for terrible food that we barely ate any of cause it was disgusting! My review is to warn other people that they will pay high quality prices for very low quality food that is not worth it. I’m not the jerk, you are and I have nothing to be ashamed of as you opened your restaurant on Thanksgiving and had your employees work. Your waiter saw and knew we did not like the food because everything we got off the buffet was still on our plate. This is the first time I have ever not tipped and that’s because although the waiter was kind enough, he brought us drinks and lied about bringing fresh rolls. Due to your cost for terrible food, I didn’t tip. I hope your employees find a better establishment to work at. Seeing how you treat customers, I can only imagine how you treat your team. This is all a YOU problem. Maybe try being humble and looking into making your establishment better rather than being so rude to the people paying to keep you...

While we have really enjoyed TJ Smiths in the past, our last takeout experience was a bad one. After calling to order, they insisted on taking credit card info right then & there, as opposed to paying in person (like they did in the past). Maybe they've gotten burned in the past-whatever. This resulted in having to repeat the credit card information 3x before they correctly got it. When we went to the restaurant to pick up, the hostesses (2 of them) told us to wait at the bar and ask the bartender for the food. We waited for 10 minutes at the bar to get the bartenders attention for the food. Meanwhile, ppl were coming in with mobile orders (through 3rd party apps), which the hostesses accommodated immediately, and had the bartender fetch multiple orders before we could get ours. The hostesses continued to insist them couldn't help us. Finally- the food was only mediocre. One dish we ordered had prosciutto, and the prosciutto was off. Given this experience, we will no longer be ordering take out here. Seems as though they want to push people to use the third party apps (with additional fees and inflated prices) given their treatment of customers who order takeout directly with them. Note that this past experience has been quite different from our past TJ Smith experiences.

EDIT: Seeing restaurant's reply, I get that. If you insist on taking cc info over the phone, maybe have a headset available for hostess so we don't have to repeat the credit card info 3x until they hear it correctly- or provide an online option. Further- I don't care if your hostesses followed protocol- there is no reason a guest should wait over 10 minutes while their food is getting cold to get a bartenders attention. The restaurant clearly prioritizes DoorDash orders over takeout orders through the phone as these customers were served...

We have eaten here before and normally have a good experience, but our last visit (11/15) was a HUGE disappointment in so many ways.

I ordered one of the specials, Steak Au Poive (came with mashed potatoes and veggie) and my wife ordered a Patty Melt. When the meal came, I immediately notice that the veggie (roasted squash) was BURNT, like hard black in numerous spots. Mentioned something to the server, she offered to get me something else (broccoli), so OK. Not really certain why anyone would send BURNT food of the kitchen, especially when the burnt food creates an acrid flavor that never goes away if you eat it.

So, we begin to dig in after that is resolved and I try the mashed potatoes only to discover that they taste like someone dumped an entire salt shaker in them, completely inedible!!!! Mention this to my wife, she remarks that her Patty Melt is super salty as well and doesn't taste great, she barely ate 1/4 of it.

Here is where things really went off the rails.... the server comes over and we mention they hyper salty food and I tell her that the mashed potatoes are inedible. She remarks about a new chef or something, doesn't offer to replace the potatoes or the Patty Melt. Later she stops back and asks if we want to talk to the manager, but I am so frustrated at this point, I just want to leave.

The server should have sent the manager over to talk with us without even asking, as 3 of the 5 items on our plates were NOT good. Further, they didn't deduct anything from the bill and for what we paid, it was DEFINITELY a disappointment.

Not sure if we will go back, it's a shame because we normally enjoy the food, but this really leaves...